WWC: Dynamite To Reboot, Publish The Phantom

By Matt Brady June 28, 2008 12:18pm ET

Moonstone vs. Dynamite Over the Phantom

He pre-dates Superman, and he’s now moving to Dynamite Entertainment.
According to company President Nick Barrucci, Dynamite has acquired the
rights to produce The Phantom comics – with Alex Ross attached.

Created by Lee Falk in the mid ‘30s, “The Ghost Who Walks” has been in
virtually continuous publication since 1936, either as a comic strip of
comic book. Most recently, Moonstone held the license for the
character.

“I don’t know all the particulars about whether or not the other
publisher let go of the license, or how, but we were approached,”
Barrucci tells Newsarama. “We liked the idea, and we have a take that I
think is a great one, and Alex Ross has sat down with me to go over the
direction of the series. Basically, Alex likes our idea, and has
already started on some drawings that we can’t show, because they’re
just initial sketches, and he doesn’t want to show them to the world
just yet.”

According to Barrucci, Dynamite’s treatment of The Phantom will be a
reboot, similar to what the publisher has done with The Lone Ranger and
Zorro. “Our take is going to be an interesting one – we are going to
reboot it in such away where we will explain his costume – which will
be tweaked – differently. Anyone who knows Alex knows that his idea of
tweaking involves taking the best of what is there, and make it
contemporary while including those elements. I think, in broad strokes,
how we see the character can be described in three sentences:

“He will start in the jungle.

“He will be ‘born’ in the jungle.

“He will come to the concrete jungle of New York City.”

Those familiar with the character and Falk’s original take on it will
recall that The Phantom was originally meant to be in the city, but the
creator later moved him to the jungle – according to some sources, due
to legal pressure that resulted from his perceived similarity to
Batman. But with Dynamite, he’s heading back to town.

“One of the things we felt with the Phantom is, you can only have so
many adventures in the jungle,” Barrucci explains. “It’s about time we
put him back in civilization, and we pit him against the animals of New
York City. “

Currently, a writer is under consideration, Barrucci says. “We are
talking to someone who is on a similar level with Alex Ross – someone
like a [Lone Ranger
writer] Brett Matthews who can reinvent the character, who can not only
take out the essence of the character while making him contemporary as
well.”

The first storyline of the new Dynamite series is called “Born in
Blood,” and Barrucci says a launch date will be announced shortly.